“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24.

The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17.

After I read our psalm, Psalm 64, I couldn’t help but contrast what David is describing of those who choose to do evil with the love and goodness and wisdom that is our Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. Have you ever thought about that? It all began with the lie way before Adam and Eve. How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. Isaiah 14:12-15. All lies, all sorrows, all sins came from the lie within Satan that he was better than Almighty God. Look at our world today and see the result in millions of shattered lives all from the lie. When we believe lies, we believe the father of lies. This psalm describes the result…Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy…Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the plots of evildoers…They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim cruel words like deadly arrows…They shoot from ambush at the innocent; they shoot suddenly without fear…They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, “Who will see it?” They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the human mind and heart are cunning…v. 1-6. Is our God like that? Jesus told His disciples He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven, Luke 10:18. Adam and Eve believed the lies of Satan. Jesus did not. He knew better. Jesus, God the Son, knows better! The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him! v. 10.

Our God’s love surrounds us with goodness and truth and hope. He upholds us and uplifts us and brings us His understanding. In His love we find our home and we are loved. We still live in a world chasing after the lie. The second Scripture verses quoted above were in Hearing God by Dallas Willard. He wrote: Hearing God – as a reliable, day-to-day reality – is for the disciple of Jesus Christ who has no higher preference than to be like him. That startled me when I read it. I don’t want to be anything like Satan who is filled with pride and the lie he is better than our God. But to be like our Creator God is to be filled with His Love that He Himself gives and not for our pride but for His glory! For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19. Humanity has lived so long in the lie. Let us turn to our Creator God and worship Him with love, led by Holy Spirit who dwells within us as we come to know Him. Jesus showed us how as He walked this earth and lived life with us. I want to be like Him! Loving our Holy Father and my fellow brothers and sisters! A tall order…and He is the only One who can help us.